US drones caused many civilian casualties

2 years ago

Drone US in Afghanistan Photo credit: Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP

Over a period of five months, these guided weapons have even missed 90% of their targets Afghanistan and Yemen, according to the American investigative website The Intercept who laid hands on classified documents.

The drone strikes are not as effective as authorities claim. If we are to believe the revelations of the US news website The Intercept , the civilian losses of US drone strikes, targeting extremists on several courses of operations, are underestimated by the US administration.

In a folder entitled “killing machine”, the website founded by eBay creator publishes a series of secret documents that were delivered to him by a professional US intelligence. These documents show, among other things, that during the Haymaker operation, in north-eastern Afghanistan between January 2012 and February 2013, the drone strikes US special forces killed more than 200 people, of which only 35 were the targets. On a sub-period of five months, during this operation, 90% of those killed were not persons covered, according to The Intercept .

The documents also show that the US military put away these victims in their statistics as “enemies killed in battle.” This way of designating all male victims as combatants, unless the contrary is “crazy”, in the professional intelligence cited by The Intercept . “But we got used to that. Intelligence agencies, the JSOC (US special forces carrying out the strikes), the CIA (who also conducts drone strikes), and all those who assist and support these programs, they have no problem with that, “adds the source.

President “as transparent as possible about the anti-terrorist operations”

Asked this week about the investigation of The Intercept , the spokesman of the White House, Josh Earnest, said that President Obama tried to be “as transparent as possible about the anti-terrorist operations” in the world. “And the fact that these operations are going to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties,” he added, “it’s a pretty striking contrast with organizations such as the Taliban which clearly conducting operations against innocent civilians, in a coordinated strategy to foment violence and unrest. ”

In his abundant investigation, The Intercept also details the workings of the decision process of the bureaucratic machine before removal by drone . The site and presents the “baseball cards” created by intelligence professionals, on the model of the cards are exchanged sports enthusiasts about their favorite players.

A portrait of the target, the threat it poses to the United States, its links with other extremists, while it is combined with operational information in a folder that will travel to the office of President Obama, for it gives the green light to strike. Once launched, the approval process by the president takes on average 58 days, according to the document cited by The Intercept . The green light is then valid for 60 days.